Game of Thrones prequel ‘Bloodmoon’: from cast to release date, everything we know as filming starts

Here's what happened to the criminals behind the Hatton Garden heist

Charlie Brooker reveals why Miley Cyrus is in Black Mirror season 5

Nathan Barley magazine SugarApe returns in Black Mirror

Alex Honnold: who is the Free Solo climber who scaled El Capitan?

The i newsletter

News for free thinkers

Email address:

Why are women so lousy at presenting? They must be, or at least one of them would have nudged their way into the top 12 most highly paid presenters at the BBC. As it is, only two women – Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz – make it into the top 20. Winkleman, ranked 13th on the list, earns £370,000 – 380,000 (not including her Strictly salary as that comes under the BBC Studios arm), which is a fifth of what Gary Lineker – at No 1 on the salary list with £1.75million – earns. Who knew he was five times better at his weekend job?

The BBC claims progress – the number of women paid £150,000 or more increased from 14 to 22 in the year up to 31 March – 34% of the overall list. The aim is for the list to be 50/50 men and women by 2020. Jane Garvey of Woman’s Hour has declared the pace of change to be “glacial.”

Meanwhile, Channel 4 did its bit for the gender opportunity gap tonight with the first ever all-female edition of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Regular presenter Jimmy Carr was replaced by Katherine Ryan for the night, Roisin Conaty, Jessica Hynes, Sara Pascoe and Lolly Adefope were the captains and players and Morgana Robinson was in Dictionary Corner, hilarious in character as Eastenders actress Natalie Cassidy. Rachel Riley and Susie Dent continued in their regular expert roles, making the female tally eight.

There have certainly never been that many on Cats Does Countdown – which up until December last year had featured 73% male guests. The one-woman-per-show rule rules. When you look at it that way, one show out of 97 so far “celebrating 100 years of women’s suffrage” looks a bit daft.

The important thing is that the line-up didn’t make a blind bit of difference. It was still the same old Cats does Countdown – funny, silly, full of quick wit, slow arithmetic and time-bending feats during the challenges – with the added bonus of watching Britain’s finest female comedians sparring off each other, rather than off four men, for a change (What a nice, simple joy it is to see “Lolly & Sara”, “Roisin & Jessica” on the team sheet).

I could have done with a few less shoehorned-in jokes about suffragettes but for the most part this was a champagne-fuelled joy, with sharp, rude, laugh-out-loud riffs on everything from etymology to oral sex, mermaids to female-only insults (“frumpy” “airhead”) – and a joke about a Bloody Mary that made me gasp with delight.

As for the wonderfully tart Kween Ryan – who introduced the show with the words: “It’s an all-female, cis-gendered, mostly white women line-up. One step at a time” – Jimmy Carr should be very afraid. There is no-one else who could berate a set of panellists at the end of a terrible numbers round with “stupid bitches”, and get away with it. Long may she reign.

Is this the brave new world, then? In five years women might not be, as Ryan put it in her opening monologue, “wearing mens’ balls for earrings” but will they get to host, be captains, even break into the top 10 earners? Well, no. On next week’s Cats Does Countdown, it’s business as usual, with one female guest – Ryan, again. Here’s an anagram for you, Channel 4: shibtull.

Game of Thrones prequel ‘Bloodmoon’: from cast to release date, everything we know as filming starts

Here's what happened to the criminals behind the Hatton Garden heist

Charlie Brooker reveals why Miley Cyrus is in Black Mirror season 5

Nathan Barley magazine SugarApe returns in Black Mirror

Alex Honnold: who is the Free Solo climber who scaled El Capitan?

The i's Essential Daily Briefing

We know that sometimes it’s easier for us to come to you with the news. That's why our new email newsletter will deliver a mobile-friendly snapshot of inews.co.uk to your inbox every morning, from Monday to Saturday.

This will feature the stories you need to know, as well as a curated selection of the best reads from across the site. Of course, you can easily opt out at any time, but we're confident that you won't.

Oliver Duff, Editor

By entering your email address and clicking on the sign up button below, you are agreeing to receive the latest daily news, news features and service updates from the i via email. You can unsubscribe at any time and we will not pass on your information.